Inspiron 1420 + External Monitor

Hey guys,

After sorting through Dell's new laptops, I decided that the Inspiron 1420 is the best match for me. I will be starting Law School in the Fall, and need a laptop to bring back and forth every day to class/library. I had a Inspiron 8500 in college, and although it performed well, I felt that the 15.4" Wide-screen was too big/bulky to haul around. I also plan on getting an LCD monitor to hookup to the laptop when I'm doing work at home in my office (To be specific, this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116078)

However, I've noticed two things that I am seeking input on. Since the Inspiron series don't offer DVI ports, how much will quality suffer in hooking up a LCD monitor via VGA? Remember, I will not be doing gaming on this notebook, but solely writing/research. Secondly, the maximum supported resolution for this notebook, with the "glossy widescreen" is 1440x900, while ViewSonic monitor I would like to purchase is 1680x1050. I do plan on getting the Geforce 8400 card in the notebook, and am hoping that this card will let me run the LCD monitor at its full resolution, is this correct?

Thank you!

 

to tell you the honest truth, you wont be able to tell the difference between vga and dvi, most people cant.

as for supported resolution, 1680x1050 should be no problem even if you get the integrated gfx solution in the 1420. i love how vista handles external monitors, its wonderful. you can use both at the same time, one, or the other, anything you want.

you will be fine with a 1420.

 

The quality will not suffer very noticeably at all with vga instead of dvi. At least for me, I don't see much of a difference between dvi and vga when I hook up my lcd from my desktop either way. Also, the 8400 will be able to drive your monitor at its native resolution.

 

Hey, I dual screen off my currently laptop.. My external is a 19in Viewsonic LCD.. its also VGA and works fine.. you cannot notice any difference vs my brothers DVI desktop....

Altho with a 128mb Video card you may get some video lag when you are running several programs at once.. But it will be almost nothing unless you plan to play games such as Wow.. were FPS is key.

 

Great! Thanks for the quick responses. Now to order.

 

I've run my fiancée's e1505 to my 2405fpw at full resolution (that'd be 1920x1200) without any perceived problem with the quality.

A lot depends on the quality of cable you're using - you need a nice heavily shielded cable for higher resolution with analog signaling.

 

If the cable is heavy, then it's a good cable.

 

I used the stock 2405 VGA and DVI cable to hook up to two computers, the factory cables work perfectly fine. Dnn't bother buying any fancy cable. I can tell the difference between the two because I use a lot of charting software, but otherwise, as people have mentioned, you won't know the difference.

You might want to consider how many times you're going to plug in and yank the VGA cable though, it's not rated to plug/unplug too many times. ( I read somewhere abour <50 times.)

 

Hmm...interesting point exe. I figure i'll use the laptop during the week, and plug in the monitor on the weekends. Is plugging in/unplugging too many times only detrimental to the cable, or to the monitor/laptop itself? If it's just the cable, no worries - I have plenty VGA cables laying around.

 

I'd be VERY interested to see this reference.

 

I got no reference for that, but think about this for a moment. How many times is your internal SATA rated for? How about eSata? How about USB. They all have a rating.

By logic, the items that are not meant to be plugged in and out, like your internal sata cable, will have way less plug/unplug rating than eSata. This is one of the reasons they invented eSata, otherwise, why not just use sata cables and the bare HD as the interface? Same thing applies to DVI and VGA.

I can tell you from my personal experience, I have exceeded the 50 times rating of my DVI on my laptop, by about maybe 20, so total abut 70 times in 2 months (I plug and unplug almost everyday). I can tell you by looking at the DVI receptacle, the plastics are getting deeper scratch marks, hence I stopped using it. (Actually, I got around this by using DVI to HDMI converter so if it wear outs, I can just buy another converter or HDMI cable. The adapter however, stays on the laptop; I don't travel outside the house with it much, so if you do, it won't work for you.)

Additionally, in the market there is a product called a HDMI Saver. It's basically a HDMI extension cable, about 6inches long. The entire purpose for this item is to save your device from getting worn and broken. What will get worn and broken will be just the 'Saver' cable, which is cheap to replace. Naturally, HDMI is also another item not designed for excessive plug/unplugging.

 

I've plugged/unplugged my VGA cable once or twice a week for the last year without any problems.

 

I plugged and unplugged my old Inspiron 8500 video about 10 times a week (in the AM in the office .... in the PM at home) for over 2 years with no issue.

I used to do a lot of field work with monitoring devices using serial cables and found those much more of an issue - but then the laptop end was male, whereas the video connector is female. Anyway, we used to get these $5 serial port FxM conectors (looked like gender changers)and hence we would break the pin off those .... not the port on the motherboard.

 

Holy cow! I'm getting essentially the same laptop as the original poster... for the exact same reason (Law School in the fall). Crazy!
Anyways, DVI vs VGA you shouldn't notice any difference, especially if you are mostly doing text based work.

 

Why didn't you guys order the Vostro 1400? o_o.

Aren't they basically the same build? I believe the Vostro is cheaper as well.

 

A Vostro with a similar build would have cost me $1462; my Inspiron cost me $1278 after rebates.

 

I've been using an external monitor with my Inspiron 1420 for a couple of months now and I can get you up to date on my experiences.

When I first plugged it into my 22" LCD monitor (Asus VW222 via the VGA port @ 1680x1050) I noticed a lot of blurry ghosting that was still actually quite sharp. (Hard to explain, but imagine that if there was a sharp black line, there would be a corresponding sharp white line a few pixels over to the right). I did talk to Dell support about this and they wanted to change the motherboard - I couldn't be bothered with it for such a small thing so I skipped that option. For reference, the ghosting didn't seem to be there on monitors with resolutions 1280x1024 and lower. I tried it on a 1600x1200 Dell monitor and the ghosting was there still.

I eventually got the screen looking a bit better by using a 'CVT Reduced Blanking' video mode (in Linux by making a mode line, or in Win XP using an Nvidia Custom Timing - not available in the Nvidia drivers for Vista ... yet?). This stops the card from sending unnecessary blanking signals (required for CRTs), so leaves more room for the actual signal to get through.

After all that, however, the VGA port has died. I was plugging/unplugging the VGA cable maybe 4-5 times a week for a couple of months - I think it might be more to do with how the cable sits on the side of the laptop. I'm going to give Dell Technical Support a call tomorrow in order to get it fixed. Will let you all know how it goes, and whether the new motherboard fixes the original problem of ghosting.

 

1520 here running on a 22" at 1680x1050. Sharp as can be. Text becomes a little interlaced when moving windows around but animations are very clear and I haven't experienced any slowdowns.

I have yet to try any 3D intense gaming yet but plan on soon.

 

Well, the new motherboard has been installed (the installer managed to break my wifi switch, so I dismantled it again just then to re-seat it... couldn't go all weekend without wireless ). The slightly blurry/ghosting problem is still there with the display although it might not be as noticeable. Didn't notice it on a Dell 20" 1600x1200 display, but notice it a bit on my Asus 22" 1680x1050. *shrug*. There are probably a few variables involved.

Anyway, pretty happy with it now... still hunting around for a replacement though - tossing up between an XPS M1330 and a HP dv2800 (when they finally get to Australia). The XPS is a fair bit lighter, but the HP is 14.1" which I myself think is the 'sweet spot' for screen size on a portable.